TWO BOYS DROWN IN NGOINGWA, RESIDENTS DEMOSTRATE AGAINST COUNTY GOVT.

The El Nino rains sweeping across most parts of the country has indirectly led to the deaths of two young boys aged about 6 and 8, in Ngoingwa Estate, Thika Sub-County.

According to the mother of one of the victims, they two left her house at around 1:00pm on Tuesday after taking a cup of tea. They must have strayed to a nearby drainage canal that was recently dug by the County Government of Kiambu to direct water runoff into River Chania. It seems that they might have slipped and fell into the gully, which was full of water and drowned to death as they either played nearby or had decided to enter the trench.

After some time, this parent went out to look for her son but could not trace him. As she was searching for him, she came across his pair of slippers abandoned on the edge of the fallow. This alerted her to the assumption that her son must have fallen into the ditch. Without a second thought, she threw caution out of the window and immediately jumped into the canal.

Fortunately, she tumbled into her son's lifeless body that was already submerged in water. As she was lifting it out of the water, she hit another object which was for sure, another child's body. She managed to retrieve the two bodies and called for help from neighbours who rushed to the scene.

This incident angered the area residents who claimed that the canal was dug under the area MCA Hon. Kennedy Mwangi and left dangerously. They claimed that the County Governmaent workers never considered the general safety precautions when they left such a deep trench dangerously open in a residential area that was full of children.

Towards the evening, the angry residents of Ngoingwa Estate started demonstrating against the county government, blocking the road to Mang'u and Kamwangi with huge boulders and lit borne-fires on the road. There were reports that the MCA, who had come to condole the families of the bereaved had to run for his dear life when angry youth decided to pelt stones towards his car.

Traffic towards Mang'u was interrupted for long hours, eventually worsening the situation of the usual traffic snarl-up along Gatitu and Garissa Road. Police had to use teargas canisters to chase away the youth who had come all the way to the Njomoko Junction where they had started harassing motorists on the busy Thika Superhighway.  They were able to restore order but the road users had to contend with the traffic till late into the night.

The bodies of the bereaved were taken to General Kago Funeral Home.